If I Can't Have You: A Compulsive, Darkly Funny Story of Heartbreak and Obsession

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Short synopsis because really we all know from the title that this is a stalker novel. It is very much written in the style of You or Our Kind of Cruelty. Our narrator Constance has secrets and insecurities but most of all she is desperately lonely. This is the heart of the disaster that is to come. They say there's a fine line between love and hate. But I don't think there's a line at all. They're the same thing. What we love we hate for loving. What makes us more vulnerable than love? What hurts as much?" As soon as Jennifer arrived at the house and told West Valley City Police Department Detective Ellis Maxwell of her conversation with Josh, he borrowed her phone and called Josh, and when Josh answered, Maxwell told him to come home. Josh said that he needed to stop and get his children something to eat first. This isn't your usual psychological thriller, it is a study of manipulation and gaslighting at its most cruel ways.

Then Josh had decided to take the boys camping. Susan didn't want to go. He'd "gotten a late start" and left after midnight. Despite the warnings of cold, snow, and ice, Josh said he, Charlie, and Braden had gone to Simpson Springs, about two hours southwest of Salt Lake City, elevation 5,100 feet. They had slept in the car, tried out a new electric generator for heat, and taken firewood with them so they could make s'mores. They made them, but without the chocolate. He'd forgotten that ingredient.If you enjoy true crime novels and have heard about this case, I recommend giving this book a try. While I wish there were more answers in terms of what happened to Susan Powell, I think her story SHOULD be told to help prevent things like this happening in the future. Let's be clear here: the victims of Josh's horrific acts are Susan's family and her friends. Josh never was a victim, even though some might try to scapegoat his father for Josh's behavior. This is wrong. Though Steve is clearly an evil man and a horrible father and human being who deserves to spend the rest of his life in jail, Josh is wholly responsible for what he did. There are many, many cases of people who overcame massive personal struggles to become good and successful people. Josh obviously did not try to rise above his tortured childhood. He not only was a narcissistic, cowardly, monster, he reveled in his evilness. He chose to kill his entire family. Though his sister and father will doubtlessly keep trying to convince the media that Josh was the victim of a conspiracy by the media and the LDS church (which is, yes, just as ridiculous as it sounds), they are wrong. Josh was purely evil. Susan, Josh and the boys are missing. We don't know where they are. They haven't been seen since church.

IfICantHaveYou #psychologicalthriller #NoRulesJustThrills #InExchangeForReview #JustFinished #BookReview Sitting at home all summer wasn't ideal in a home not really set up for little ones - a household with an uncle on meds, a caregiver aunt who'd been thrust into the role without any training, and a grandfather who was obsessed with pornography. Kiirsi then phoned the Relief Society president—the head of their ward's women's group—and the two of them joined Jennifer at the Powell house and talked to the police. EM: You know what I'm saying? And I actually know who her closest friends are and you're telling me that you can't tell me. Jennifer went into the master bedroom. Despite the clutter, she noticed Susan's blue leather purse on a table by the foot of the bed. It contained her wallet, credit cards, and keys. There was no cell phone. The house was messy, but that was normal. There was no sign of forced entry or a robbery, home invasion, or struggle. Susan's red nylon snow boots, which she wore whenever she left the house, were in the living room.Women do find the rape scenario attractive and appealing and exciting... women want to be raped by Robert Redford." Charlie and Braden, ages four and two, respectively, had been attending Debbie's day care for a year and a half, and like many women who had met the outgoing Susan, Debbie had become a confidante. Susan and her circle of friends were young, committed Mormon wives. Their children and their marriages came first. The friends had heard, because Susan told them, that Josh wouldn't give her money to buy groceries and diapers, wouldn't have sex with her, and wouldn't go to counseling. One friend joked that Josh treated his pet parrot better than his wife and sons. Susan also voiced displeasure that he was spending too many hours on the phone talking with his father, who had left the Mormon church. Steve Powell, Susan told her friends, had been inappropriate with her—disgustingly so. Susan was so open with her complaints that her friends were feeling a bit apathetic. They'd heard it all so many times. They all stared" it held my attention as we travelled a journey with main character Constance who writes a letter to Samuel explaining her thoughts and actions. She works as a receptionist at a doctors' surgery and falls head over heels with the new recruit. He(Samuel) bubbles along through life merrily using and abusing women for sex and dropping them as and when he chooses. She does not see his treatment of her as horrific and instead chooses to see him as the object of her love and devotion and refuses to walk away from him, as so many people have done in her life, who supposedly loved her. The award-winning author has been a guest on dozens of national and local television shows, including educational programs for the History Channel, Learning Channel, and Discovery Channel. He has also appeared on Good Morning America, The Early Show, The Today Show, FOX News; CNN, Anderson Cooper 360, MSNBC, Entertainment Tonight, CBS 48 Hours, Oxygen’s Snapped, Court TV’s Crier Live, Inside Edition, Extra, Access Hollywood, and A&E’s Biography.

Josh paused a beat. "She's at work." He went on to stammer out that he and the boys had gone camping overnight without Susan.I also had a problem with something that a Dr. Christina J. Johns was quoted saying. (I'm interested in other women's thoughts on this.) This book is an account of Susan Powell's troubled marriage and her suspicious disappearance, but it is also an account of the two years of investigation that followed. Given what the reader learns of Josh's pattern of controlling behavior, his scarcely credible alibi, his suspicious actions following his wife's disappearance, and the many pieces of supportive evidence accumulated by law enforcement, it is almost impossible not to ask: shouldn't he have been charged with murder and taken into custody? True, Susan's body was never found, and prosecuting a murder without a body is a difficult undertaking. On the other hand, if he had been charged and incarcerated, his two sons might be alive today. Susan's father had faith that things would be all right. His daughter would be found safe and sound. He promised Judy. He believed it. He prayed for it. It turns out that there was much more to the story than I knew going into If I Can't Have You. There's the self-centred husband and father who appeared to view his family as a form of property. The obsessive and delusional father-in-law with a laundry list of sexual deviancies. The public battle over the missing Susan Powell's reputation, which divides two families. The questionable police work done in the months and years following Susan's disappearance. And, of course, the brutal murder-suicide that caps the whole tragic tale.